Asian Studies has become an increasingly important area of study in North American colleges and universities.

This is due in part to a growing acknowledgment that Asian cultures are of significance both regionally and globally. The Asian Studies Program offers students the opportunity to explore these cultures from a multidisciplinary perspective so that they are able to understand the social, cultural, political, and other forces that shape and have shaped these nations.

For more information about the Asian Studies major and minor, please contact:Prof. Jia-Chen Fu
Department of History
(216) 368-2623jia-chen.fu@case.edu

"No state is forever strong or forever weak," said Han Feizi, China's great legalist philosopher. "If those who uphold the law are strong, the state will be strong; if they are weak, the state will be weak." Han believed that as a country's conditions changed, the law and institutions must change to meet those new circumstances. China today faces new circumstances that have caused numerous monumental problems that impact the lives of its people. This course provides a fuller understanding of China's potential for political change -- and the direction it might take. The course examines Chinese political thought from Confucius, Mencius and Han Feizi through Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping. Further, what does China's ancient philosophy tell us about China's rise in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries? Does Confucianism remain? These and other political philosophies have influenced China's political culture, which will give shape to what any change might look like. As well, Chinese history may be a guide in how the country has embraced political reform and how it has turned the idea away, often with drastic results.